Women will be future leaders, too, and I was dismayed to see how many of them either looked frumpish or like two-bit whores.

First, are these young people being taught anything by their parents? I was at another service-oriented gathering of young women where the girls were in tight bandeau-skirts (you know, the kind of tube-top skirts that hookers wear on street corners?). They were sitting with their mothers. What is going on here?

Second, have women so internalized feminist dogma that they see themselves in only two ways? Butch, men-lite wannabes or 3rd wave sluts who empower themselves by screwing every available horndog man?

Neither path is a way to self-love and respect, mind you. Both tracks will inhibit future success.

Women, if you’re at a conference where you’re learning to be a future politician or wish to succeed in the business of politics, dress the part. No, you don’t have to be in a business suit with pearls. However, modesty is a minimum. So:

1. No cleavage. That’s right. Cover that up. I say “no” in absolutist terms because women will show a tiny bit and that’s okay, but really, in a business environment where ideas are the priority, a dude thinking about your ta-tas is counter-productive.

2. Skirts no more than three finger-widths above the knee. Why do I even have to write this? Well, because someone is allowing these girls out of the house with mini-skirts that reveal too much.

3. Save the stilettos for Saturday night on a date with your boyfriend.

4. Bend at the knee. No, I don’t want to see your butt.

Young women, you degrade your own value by dressing and then acting the ho.

I cannot even tell you how many girls have told me that all they want is to get married and have babies. They do not seem to make the connection that a young man is not interested in getting married and making babies with a girl who is so easy as to have a one-night stand over a CPAC weekend (or any other weekend.)

You know what a guy thinks when you slut-it-up? He thinks: If she’ll do that with me, she’ll do that with anyone.

This is not politically correct advice, mind you. Young ladies at college are encouraged to embrace their sexuality and flaunt it on the one hand (empowerment!) or to be tough, gruff and make-up free (man’s world!) to be taken seriously.

A successful woman can be tough and beautiful, modest and stylish, smart and sexy while still being chaste and having expectations of men.

The conservative movement means conservative values–promoting behavior that will lead to a sound society. Family is at the basis of this. Sexuality, and the self-management of it, is at the core of family.

A man who will use self-restraint, respect a woman, honor her enough to not pressure for sex–is a man who will more likely be faithful in marriage, work and life.

Likewise, a woman who sees herself as more than a sex-object and realizes she doesn’t need to be a man in order to be worthy, who carries herself with confidence and modesty, will attract men who want to get married and make babies.

It is disheartening that these ideas even need to be written about, but clearly they do. If, at the number one conservative conference of the year, young men and women are looking and acting like the cast of Jersey Shore, it’s time to reset the compass.

UPDATED: Worth a read. A father gives his account of young women and says, in his article, The Death of Pretty:

Most girls don’t want to be pretty anymore even if they understand what it is. It is ironic that 40 years of women’s liberation has succeeded only in turning women into a commodity. Something to be used up and thrown out.

Of course men play a role in this as well, but women should know better and they once did. Once upon a time you would hear girls talk about kind of women men date and the kind they marry. You don’t hear things like that anymore.
But here is the real truth. Most men prefer pretty over hot. Even back in 6th grade I hated the “hot” Olivia Newton John and felt sorry for her that she had to debase herself in such a way. Still do.

Please read the whole thing.

Updated again:

Well, at least Wonkette is consistent. They are for sluttiness! Yay! Let’s promote STDs, drunken debauchery, casual sex, and by extension, the inevitable unwanted pregnancies and abortions that result. Isn’t being progressive positively regressive? Like it’s some big cultural evolution and progress to have humans rut like animals.

There is, in fact, a sort of intellectual jujitsu that a few conservative males practice, wherein they decline to respect women in the egalitarian John Stuart Mill sense (because, doncha know, that’s feminist, and it’s bad), and yet they decline to do it in an Old-World, gentlemenly sense (because that would be old-fahioned, and we’re all very modern around here). These two approaches can overlap, but in a certain type of male they might both be eschewed . . . and that is a recipe for caddishness.

I’ve seen it, and it isn’t attractive.

But, you know: these matters of etiquette aren’t easy, no matter where one stands on the social-conservative spectrum. And conventions . . . well, they can be dicey arenas when it comes to the etiquette of flirting. (Rebecca Watson just called to point out that a guy once tried to coffee-rape her in an elevator, which, you know . . . made me sigh heavily.)

The bottom line is, treat people decently. If you’re wrestling with heavy-duty personal demons such as uncontrolled anger—or a tendancy to proposition new acquaintances‐don’t drink as heavily, even if there is a hosted bar.

She brings up a good point on acting respectful. And that’s really what I’m talking about here–dressing, acting respectfully, appropriately (man, I hate that word).

It’s a matter of even knowing what is respectful attire, action, etc. This all makes me seem terribly old-fashioned. And it probably makes me seem hard on women.

If a woman is looking for a man, don’t act like a little girl, don’t dress provocatively and then be appalled when you’re propositioned, and have a couple standards for behavior–your own and his.

These sorts of things used to be taught. Now the rules and expectations are so blurred and confusing, there’s a certain amount of blithering hysteria involved in the Western mating ritual. Girls really have no concept of their own value and are shocked at being treated as a commodity.

what may be most annoying about your complete hooey is the misrepresentation of “feminist dogma”. You indicate that it entails “being a prostitute or…being a man” when in reality the entire point is that women can dress how they would like and comport themselves romantically as seems best to them individually without compromising their innate human right to dignity.

the leftist perspective envisions a day when people are less shallow and can see that who a person is on the inside and how they express that identity through their deeds is more important than how they appear on the outside. This encompasses not only innate characteristics like ethnicity, sex, and physical appearance but also surface characteristics like style/clothes.

by contrast, the conservative ethic you promote actively seeks to judge people on the basis of their surface characteristics. You have a choice – you could look at those “very innocent, sweet girls dressed in provocative ways” you mentioned in a prior comment as individuals who have characteristics (the innocence and sweetness you mention) that go beyond their outward appearance, or you could be part of the problem and go on calling them “sluts” and “two-bit whores” even though you know this does not accurately describe them.

Anonymous

No. No one *has* to say anything judgmental about the appearance of others.

You *choose* to decide that your definition of “reasonable” is the one that others should follow, and then to berate those who don’t adhere to your idea of what’s proper.

T. Ruddy

Was this reprinted from The Onion?

Anonymous

So your opinion is that males are so fragile that they cannot be confronted by exposed skin/bodies of the opposite sex?

Go jump in a lake, yo. It is the responsbility of men to control themselves, and vapid foolishness like yours merely enables rape culture.

Anonymous

regarding “Yay! Let’s promote STDs, drunken debauchery, casual sex, and by
extension, the inevitable unwanted pregnancies and abortions that
result. Isn’t being progressive positively regressive? Like it’s some
big cultural evolution and progress to have humans rut like animals.”

There is nothing wrong with drunken debauchery or casual sex; both have been part of humanity forever and will not disappear no matte how much evil people like you clutch your pearls. STDs and unwanted pregnancies can be prevented with proper sex education and access to contraception, but of course conservatives hate both precisely because they enable casual sex.

you serve as a prime example of how people can be hypocritical when it comes to defending people they agree with. “Do not judge” is a self-apparent matter and your/deeinhouston’s tortured twisting of the principle to try and reprove allyugadawg is pathetic.

Anonymous

you have the nerve to imply that allyugadawg is somehow lazy or unemployed because she has commented on this thread several times is itself highly judgmental, and makes the rest of your comment hilariously hypocritical.

Anonymous

Why should anyone take this kind of advice from a chiropractor?

Long Dong Silver

CPAC babes like wine coolers and threesomes.

Rod of Steel

I get a huge boner just thinking about CPAC

Shilohwalker

I’m always disturbed when I see a Christian casting judgment. Especially considering what the Word says about.
I wonder, truly, if God will judge each individual based on whether or not they’ve told others how to dress, and I wonder if He’s going to judge them based on their skirts.

Although He may judge the man who leers upon a woman…lust and all that. And the woman who leers upon the man. We control our eyes and our thoughts. Easier for us to do that than to try and control how others dress.

We were told to love one other, to Feed his sheep. To make disciples. Not to try and control how others dress.

and yet people dress up for job interviews. I won’t say I agree with the tone of MC’s original post… but let’s not pretend image doesn’t matter. People dress certain ways for whatever reason. “being taken seriously” and “Look at my boobs” are both reasons — and usually mutually exclusive.

Bob

Nothing like some CPAC pussy, reminds me of my days in the college Republicans.

No direct comment on the tone of the article as others have already adequately addressed that. Just wanted to add some thoughts based on my own experience.

I was educated in “Christian” schools from pre-school through college. However, in the neighborhood where I grew up, most of my friends attended public schools. I can tell you in comparing the two categories of student that, without exception, my fellow “Christian” school attendees used the worst language (excessive profanity/vulgarity) and very often dressed inappropriately and immodestly.

My point: often, “Christians” like to think of themselves as setting the appropriate standards for the rest of the society. I share my experience simply as witness to the fact that this is not the case.

http://www.facebook.com/rod.vanmechelen Rod Van Mechelen

I appreciated her points about cleavage and butts. Years ago I attended a debate in Seattle between Phylis Schlafly and Sarah Weddington, the lawyer who won Roe V. Wade. During the Q&A I asked Weddington the following: Whereas hostile environment sexual harassment exists when there is conduct of a sexual nature that is pervasive and has the purpose or effect of creating a hostile work environment, and Whereas when the case of Ellison Vs. Brady created the “Reasonable Woman Standard,” for cases of hostile environment sexual harassment it also created a uniquely male “Reasonable Man Standard, and the sex of the alleged victim determines which applies in determining what constitutes conduct of a sexual nature, and Whereas in the eyes of heterosexual men women showing cleavage or short skirts DOES constitute “conduct of a sexual nature,” and Whereas a man can get into trouble for noticing the sexual conduct of his female coworkers, thereby making it both pervasive and having the purpose or effect of creating a hostile work environment; Therefore, are women who wear revealing clothing to work guilty of hostile environment sexual harassment? As Weddington slumped down onto her podium with an expression of utter dismay on her face, Schlafly bolted upright and shouted, “Yes!”

“The conservative movement means conservative values–promoting behavior that will lead to a sound society. Family is at the basis of this. Sexuality, and the self-management of it, is at the core of family. ”

Conservatism trashed that ideal, when they approved a war for bogus reasons. You don’t get to whine and cry about what has happened to conservative values, without acknowledging just how much damage conservatives did to the concept of family, avoiding foreign entanglements, and being frugal stewards of the economy. But you guys had to invade Iraq, killing thousands and tearing thousands of Iraqi families apart, and wasting trillions to do it. Boo. Hoo. Someone showed a little butt, and boobie at CPAC. Intellectual and moral frauds usually strain over inconsequential fluff, while ignoring the real damage they have done. Just. Like. You.

Anonymous

I am an actual Conservative woman, deeply married, and trust me, I don’t spend my valuable time checking out scantily clad women. Moreover, there will always be women who dress inappropriately for a particular occasion (think of Michelle Obama’s penchant for wearing cocktail dresses for informal daytime events). Why be unkind?

Word to the wise, Melissa: More sophisticated women don’t go out of their way to make less sophisticated women uncomfortable for their clothing choices. Instead, we lead by kind example.

Incidentally, perhaps a requirement for entry to the blogger’s lounge is civility.

Anonymous

How soon do after meeting them you tell these young men about your 12 kid plan?

Anonymous

You seem to know a lot about how whores dress.

Anonymous

Well said. Whenever I read one of these pearl-clutching jeremiads I think back to the pictures of my ancestors that hang on my office wall. Imagine what those ladies in bustles and buttoned collars would have said about the skirts and bathing suits worn by even the most pious and churchy of today’s women. Fashions change and it is useless to complain about it.

And that’s part for the problem. People do dress up for job interviews, but that (a) does not impart useful information to prospective employers in the vast majority of cases (any moron can put on a suit, it has no bearing on your ability to write code or copyedit or cook or type or do most other useful things) while (b) encouraging and enabling the continued focuse on shallow surface BS instead of actual content.

Kaye stremke

I wholl heartly agree. Young ladies you need to listen and learn

Carcie

Judgemental commentary ala Melissa tell a lot more about the author than those described–sounds like the cat-fights I remember from 5th and 6th grade. The times they are a changing–men once all wore hats as I recall–today, seldom if ever. The entire culture has changed to way less formal than once so. Get with the times, and grow up–“improve” yourself!

http://madmonq.wordpress.com madmonq

Classy response. Would that we could speak across our political differences that well. Thank you.

Jerry

As an older man (77) this blog indicated to me lack of manners on the part of the writer by the calling of names and judging what is proper in her opinion.
I would praise the younger people for their participation .We need younger people actively participating in the election process.
Thank you for caring about the direction our Country should take.

http://twitter.com/Cady_Stanton Angel Firestone

I don’t see how wearing low-cut clothes and thigh high mini skirts truly improves women. Baring a little skin goes a long way. And this whole thing about being judgmental — it’s about time people made some judgments. Without judgments, there is no right or wrong. And that’s why so many people have been wasting time watching trashy shows like “Jersey Shore.”

Just because Ann Coulter wears a skin tight black evening dress to do an appearance on Fox doesn’t mean she’s dressing appropriately. So I wouldn’t hold her up as an example. If you’re over 30, you really shouldn’t be wearing skirts which barely cover your hoo-ha.

If you dress like a whore and act like a whore, why should you be offended if people call you one?

I’m a young man who’s gone to CPAC with some of the women I presume you’re describing. While I’m among the first people to encourage people (of both sexes) to learn to dress properly, there are a few things to keep in mind.

One is that many of these young women are students who don’t necessarily have a lot of business attire to bring with them. If her dress or heels looks more appropriate for “Saturday night on a date with [her] boyfriend,” it might be because that’s that’s the occasion she had in mind when she bought them.

Another is that going to CPAC is at once an opportunity to participate in a serious political event and a good time to get away from work or school and have fun the way young people are prone to do it. Once the CPAC events are over, people are going out for dinner, going to bars and clubs, having parties in hotel rooms, etc. While there’s certainly some room to question the wisdom of dressing like a “lady of the night” at the club, most of these women, understandably, don’t want to go out for the night as Ms. Pants-suit.

Finally, people of my generation weren’t generally given much instruction on how to dress, and, from what I’ve seen of women’s clothing stores, I don’t envy anyone trying to find tasteful clothing there. I’m sure some of these women would be happy to dress in something a little more modest, but aren’t sure exactly how to do it.

I don’t disagree with you about the ideal, but there are a lot of conflicting factors influencing what young women wear to CPAC… it looks to me like difficult territory to navigate. You might cut some of these women a break if they don’t quite live up to your ideals of style.

Its issues like these that make me glad to be a man… I bring a suit for the daytime, and change into some clean dark jeans with a button down shirt at night. In fact, those two easy-to-pull-together outfits leave me equipped to dress appropriately for a solid majority of life’s situations.

Carcie

Wish I could say I liked this 10X! I would be aghast at such unkindness and name calling, if I heard a daughter–or granddaughter indulging in this behavior. Very tacky, immature and ill-bred to use a few names of my own!

Carcie

Appreciate your comment, and agree, there is a time to be judgemental–and that is when there are right and wrong issues. How someone dresses, whether the observer agrees or disagrees is not one of those issues. As for watching “trashy shows” that is a matter of choice and preference–one person’s entertainment and fun is trash to another.

Carcie

Be glad you are not a woman and subject to all the snarky and catty remarks that some women love to make about others.

http://twitter.com/reverendcaptain Stanley Mcstanley

I wasn’t at any conference to be offended or turned on by anybody’s clothing choices but I will say this… One big turn off for young people of conservative circles is the tendency to snipe and criticize personal choices like clothing etc. In a liberal setting you can walk in wearing masking tape and an ipad and nobody will blink an eye.

Of course the truth is that in a liberal society personal choices will be much more limited and controlled by the government but the impression a young person can get from articles like this is that conservatives are a bunch of nosy busybodies.

So the question is, are you going to potentially turn off an unknown number of young people who are testing the waters of conservative philosophy over such a meaningless issue or are you going to stop with the judging and let them feel comfortable enough around your kind to learn and grow and mature and vote?

walter homple

CPAC is politics. Bible thumping belongs in the church of your choice; keep it there.